Two Weeks

Hello! Long time no post I know (exception being Dad's birthday video). So much has changed since I last wrote...

August 28 - Date of my last post...must have been something to that nesting instinct. Plus, I had this inclination to take photos of my pregnant belly to remember how big I'd gotten before it was too late.

That evening at 6pm my water broke. I was hoping it was a false alarm, but alas, it wasn't. I called my doctor's number only to find they'd forgotten to forward calls to the answering service. Fortunately, I had a card with the numbers of the other doctors in her group (my OB was on vacation btw). Unfortunately, the first time I called the woman took down my number incorrectly. My friend Sonja stopped by to, of all things, drop off grocery bags (which we use as garbage bags every day). She asked if everything was okay. I said yes, except for maybe one thing (had called a second time, was waiting for the call back). She said to remember that she had a car if I needed anything. I talked to the doctor right after she left--the doctor said I needed to go in to see if indeed my water did break. I called Sonja and she turned around and drove me to the hospital. This was just the first of many, many providential blessings. The quick second being a free parking spot right in front of the hospital entrance.

I was there a long time...I thought they would just do a quick check, but they had to take my history, blood and urine sample, temperature, blood pressure, the whole nine yards. I didn't want to call anyone unless I had to. I really appreciated not being there by myself. When I finally got the word that yes, it did appear that my water had broken, I couldn't help but tear up. My husband was in China! I had heard that typically they like to deliver the baby within 24 hours of water breaking because of the risk of infection. I knew there was no way he would make it back in time. I wasn't mad, just sad. I had encouraged him to go on this trip (exciting opportunity to work with the Clinton Foundation on a pediatric HIV intervention). I had really thought there was little likelihood the baby would come more than 2 weeks early. In fact, I had been telling everyone I thought she would be late (baby was due the 17th of September; Mom didn't even book her ticket to fly until the 26th).

Even if my water had broken, I really thought they would let me go home, sleep, and come back in the morning. After a very short debate amongst themselves, the health care team decided I needed to stay for monitoring. Ahhhh...if I had known that I would have at least quickly packed a bag!

I called Mom who said she could fly out early. I called my sister ML, who said she could come to the hospital right away--I said the next morning would be great. We got a hold of E very quickly which was not a given. Turns out he was in the middle of a talk and this really, really threw him for a loop. Right away he looked into coming back earlier.

I hardly slept that night...anxious, in a new place.

August 29 - My sister J's bday. They gave me two doses of medication to try to soften my cervix...little to no change. Then they put a balloon inside my uterus--some success. That night they started the pitocin to try to induce labor. I was having contractions...but hadn't progressed to what they call "Active" labor but I'd gotten to 3.5 cm dilated.

My sister ML kept me company, helped me get to the bathroom (so many wires to unplug and plus...IV, HR, BP, fetal HR monitor, contraction monitor), turned the channel on the tv (no remote?!), got food (last day I was allowed to eat real food) and slept over.

August 30 - Doctor couldn't believe (a different doctor than the 29th) that in the morning I hadn't budged even half a centimeter. The pitocin levels seemed like they were raised every 15 minutes. The night before I had been at a 12, by the afternoon I was at 31...still no active labor. But then the doctor tried completely breaking my amniotic sack...that did it...yep, labor, even back labor to be more specific. The baby was "sunny side up" as they call it. Typically the face of the baby is turned toward the spine, this is more malleable than the reverse where the head is backed up against it. I asked for an epidural pretty early on. I got to 6cm....unfortunately 2 hours later I was still at 6cm. E was due to land at Newark Airport at 5:30pm. It took a long time to get his luggage, go through customs, and actually arrive at the hospital, but oh, was he a sight to see. Everyone joked that Simone was waiting for her daddy to arrive. Two hours after reaching 6cm, I was still at 6cm. At this point the doctor said that was it--we were going to have to have a c-section. Everything moved rather quickly after that. I was a bit anxious about the surgery. That plus, possibly the anesthesia, etc. resulted in my having shakes for the entire procedure (medical team said it wasn't unusual).

And then she was here. Simone Olivia--our daughter.

To be continued...